Alaa Abdel Fatah was a prominent figure in the 2011 revolution that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak. The activist's family have long decried the conditions of his years-long detention.
The activist, who had been previously imprisoned for five years, was a major figure in the 2011 revolution, which led to the ouster of long-time former President Hosni Mubarak who had held power for three decades.
What is the latest?
Abdel Fattah has been held in detention since 2019 along with two others who were charged with "broadcasting false news."
The other two convicted on Monday were the activist's lawyer Mohamed al-Baqer and the blogger Mohamed "Oxygen" Ibrahim.
"Alaa was sentenced to five years, Baqer four years and Mohamed Oxygen four years," the activist's sister Mona Seif wrote on Twitter.
"The judge was too cowardly to even inform us," she added.
Icons of Egypt's 2011 revolution: Where are they now?
Ten years after Egypt's January 25 revolution, many of those who led protests are disillusioned or in jail.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Wael Ghonim: From inspiration to despair
Wael Ghonim was in Dubai when he created a Facebook page called "We are all Khaled Said." Ghonim knew Said, a 28-year-old blogger who was beaten to death by police. The page played an organizing role in the January protests. Since 2014, Ghonim has lived in the US. Now 40, his online commentary suggests he's depressed and disillusioned about the situation in Egypt.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/K. Elfiqi
Mahienour el-Masry: Arbitrary detention
Human rights lawyer Mahienour el-Masry was one of the first to protest Said's death. El-Masry, now 35, has been arrested multiple times and spent several years behind bars. In 2019, she was arrested again after going to the state prosecutor's office to defend detainees. To date, her case still has not been heard and she remains in prison in what Humans Rights Watch calls "arbitrary detention."
Image: picture alliance/AA/M. Mahmoud
Alaa Abdel-Fattah: Beaten and imprisoned
Alaa Abdel-Fattah and his wife founded a blog in 2004 to support local activists, after he had been arrested many times. After five years in jail he was released in March 2019, only to be arrested again that September. He remains in prison. Amnesty International has said he and his lawyer have been subjected to torture in prison.
Image: CC BY-SA 2.5/Common Good
Ahmed Maher: Out on parole
Ahmed Maher was co-founder of the April 6 movement, started in 2008 on Facebook in support of Egyptian workers who planned to strike that day. The movement helped organize the protests of January 2011. Like many other activists, Maher, now 40, was arrested several times. In late 2013, he was sentenced to three more years, then released in 2017. The April 6 movement was outlawed in 2014.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Esraa Abdel-Fattah: Jailed Nobel nominee
Esraa Abdel-Fattah came to be known as Egypt's "Facebook Girl" because of her live broadcasts during the protests. She was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2011. She was arrested several times and withdrew from politics. But in October 2019 she was arrested again. Despite international calls for her release, the 43-year-old remains in prison today.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/K. Desouki
Ahmed Douma: Arrested by everyone
Ahmed Douma was among the first protesters in Cairo on January 25, 2011. He is infamous in Egypt for having been arrested by every Egyptian administration in recent years. In 2019, he was sentenced to 15 years in a maximum security prison and ordered to pay a fine of $335,000 (€275,200) for, among other things, using force against military officers. Douma, now 32, remains in prison.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Asmaa Mahfouz: Focus on family
A week before the January 25 protest, Asmaa Mahfouz posted a video on social media calling for others to join her at the demonstration. It was viewed by millions and is credited with inspiring many. Mahfouz has not been imprisoned, although she is banned from traveling outside Egypt. The 35-year-old single mother now focuses on her two children and has shied away from political controversy.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Mohammed el-Beltagy: In jail, in bad health
Mohammed el-Beltagy, now 53, was a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, a powerful Islamist group, and became part of the government after the Brotherhood's party won the 2012 election. After the military takeover in 2013 he was jailed for life, where he remains today. In 2019, his family said his health was deteriorating. This month, Egyptian authorities reportedly seized his assets.
Image: picture-alliance/AA
Mohamed ElBaradei: Advocating from Austria
Mohamed ElBaradei, now 78, started with the Egyptian diplomatic corps in 1964 and spent most of his career overseas. On January 27, 2011, he returned home. ElBaradei went on to play a prominent role in several opposition parties and became Egypt's interim vice president in 2013. But he resigned after a month, following the massacre of over 500 Morsi supporters. Soon after he returned to Vienna.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
9 images1 | 9
Judicial sources confirmed the verdict to Reuters news agency and AFP.
Ahead of Monday's verdict the German government called for a "fair trial" and the release of the three men. Egypt slammed the statement from Berlin as "a blatant and unjustified meddling in Egyptian internal affairs."
Who is Alaa Abdel Fattah?
Abdel Fattah is a blogger and computer programmer who became a high-profile activist during the 2011 revolution in Egypt. He mobilized youths online in the uprising that ousted Mubarak.
His family family have long criticized the conditions of his pre-trial detention.
"He is denied access to books, a radio, a watch, and he is banned from walking [outside his prison cell]. He does not leave his prison cell at all except of when we visit him or if he is going to prosecution or court," his mother Leila Soueif said ahead of the hearing.
Under Egyptian law, the pre-trial detentions are allowed to last up to two years, but often last much longer.
Egypt's street artists expressed their dissent on Cairo's walls, as thousands of protesters demanded more democratic rights.
Image: Khaled Elfiqi/dpa/picture alliance
A time for hope
It's the beginning of the revolution in 2011 and young Egyptians hold together in the face of former President Hosni Mubarak's oppressive regime.
Image: Ben Curtis/AP Photo/picture alliance
Early days
A graffiti made in the early days of the protests has slogans which say, "Revolution is in our veins."
Image: Getty Images/AFP/K. Desouki
Common woes
Another mural by Ammar Abo Bakr, painted at Mohamed Mahmoud Street, shows a tearful boy holding a piece of bread.
Image: Amr Nabil/AP Photo/picture alliance
Victims of the revolution
This mural depicts the brutal beating and murder of Egyptian blogger Khaled Said in 2010.
Image: Khaled Elfiqi/dpa/picture alliance
Dwindling hope
This street painting shows Egypt's former ruler Hosni Mubarak, former military chief Mohamed Tantawy and former President Mohamed Mursi. The words in Arabic read, "No, the Brotherhood's Constitution, it's valid."
Image: Reuters
Speaking through art
Street artists used images like these to communicate their dissatisfaction with the regime and to also create awareness about the plight of ordinary people
Image: Khaled Elfiqi/dpa/picture alliance
Symbol of protests
Graffiti artists often painted on the walls in Mohamed Mahmoud Street, the center of clashes between protesters and security forces in Cairo in 2011.
Image: Munir Sayegh
The last pharoah wins
It's 2014, and ousted ruler Hosni Mubarak has been released from prison. Will President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi lose his popularity? This painting shows a man with a clown mask holding ancient Egyptian scepters of kinship.
Image: DW/R. Mokbel
'Revolution without hope nor despair'
This mural by Ammar Abo Bakr was made in Berlin in 2015, following the death of Shaimaa al Sabbagh, an Egyptian poet and activist.
Image: Don Karl
No space for art
This recent picture that was painted by Polish artist Lukasz Zasadni adorns the walls of a cemetery in Cairo. Street murals are no longer very common in Egypt.